Mack rolled off Lucy and landed heavily on his side, his breathing erratic. He blamed her. He was in excellent shape, so normally a bout of hot sex shouldn’t put him this much out of breath. But Lucy Miller had the ability to steal his damn breath every single time. Unable to stand the loss of touch, he reached out and touched her, placing a hand palm down on her stomach, his touch possessive.

“We didn’t use a condom,” he said gruffly, speaking to the ceiling because he didn’t want her to see the look on his face when he discussed the possibility of impregnating her.

“I realized,” she said quietly. “I’m on the birth control pill… and I’m clean.” She left that hanging out there, clearly expecting him to respond in kind.

“I’m clean,” Mack growled and rolled toward her. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. “What do you mean, you’re on the pill? How long?”

She shrugged a little and reached down to pull a blanket over her body, he shoved it out of her hand, preferring her naked. She glared at him and tried to cover herself with her hands. Obviously, that didn’t work well considering her curves were far more generous than her hands. “Since I got to the city. I couldn’t exactly ask for birth control out on the farm, Mack, and I didn’t have a reason for it then.”

“You were planning on having sex when you hit the city, is that it?” he growled, annoyed but not quite sure why. She’d obviously been a virgin when they’d had sex. The evidence was still smeared on her thighs and his semi-hard dick.

She sighed and frowned at him. “Why is this a big deal, Mack? Yes, I was hoping sex might be part of my city plan. If I hadn’t been on the pill then we might be discussing babies now instead of why you’re acting this way.”

His nostrils flared, and he glared down at her for a moment still not liking the whole birth control, sex in the big city thing one bit, but not knowing how to argue with her logic. “I just don’t like that you put that out there. You’re too kind and too innocent for your own good. You put those sexual vibes out there and you might’ve gotten mixed up with the wrong guy. Some asshole could’ve forced you into bed before you had a chance to call for help.”

She stared at him for a few seconds, mirth filling her gorgeous brown eyes before laughter finally spilled from her lips. He growled in annoyance. Then he reached for her before she could lunge away from him and flipped her onto her stomach.

“I didn’t mean me, you little brat,” he said in mock anger and spanked her ass until she was shrieking and laughing at the same time and trying to reach back to protect her bare butt. He shoved her off the bed. “Get dressed, we need to drive into the city.”

She stumbled and then caught herself before bending to pick up her dress. “We do? Why?”

“We’re going to your place,” he told her, pulling his sweatpants up over an already hardening erection. He’d been afraid this was going to be a problem if he ever got his hands on Lucy. She was just too damn delicious.

“Oh,” she said, looking away in disappointment.

He stood next to the bed, took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to his. In her bare feet she had to look way up. “Need to pick a few things up for you. You’re staying here for a few days. No way did I just get my fill.”

She grinned and then slapped him on the arm. “You’re such a jerk!”

He pushed her down the hall and swatted her ass to get her moving. “Yeah, one you’ll have to put up with for a while. What’s your diner schedule? Not sure I want to take an eight-hour break from the untapped sex you’re about to give me.”

* * *

Vladimir Sitnikov was waiting for them at Lucy’s apartment sitting in the back of a chauffeur driven vehicle while his bodyguards milled around looking like they owned the neighborhood. Probably because they did. The Russian mobster stepped out of the black dark-tinted SUV, waving away his entourage, the moment Mack pulled his truck to the curb. Sitnikov wore power and authority like a second skin, with an ease that made normal, everyday civilians look away and cross the street to avoid any kind of contact with the man. Mack enjoyed pissing the gangster off every chance he got. Damn suicidal tendencies and hatred of anything resembling authority.

Lucy hopped out of the truck before Mack could warn her to wait for him and skipped across the road toward her big, bad brother-in-law. Despite Mack’s disinterest in keeping to Vladimir’s good side, he did sort of wish Lucy had put her pink bra back on rather than stuff it in her purse. Any man with eyes could see she wasn’t wearing a bra under that white sundress. And all of the fucking Russians had eyes.

Now Mack had to decide if his suicidal tendencies extended to eliminating this many Russians in broad daylight just for glancing toward Lucy’s chest as she bounced across the street when, really, any red-blooded man would have done the same. Mack was about to snarl out a warning when the Boss himself turned and pointed at his men, hurling something in Russian that was clearly meant as a “take your eyes off my sister before I remove them from your heads.”

Lucy threw her arms around Vladimir’s neck and hugged him tight, calling him Vlad. Mack cleared his throat, dipped his head and hid a smirk while pretending not to see the Boss go soft over his little sister-in-law. Because that was a surefire way to get shot in the head. Yup, he was clearly in more trouble than he thought for fucking around with Jane’s sister. He knew he’d touched Russian property. He didn’t know he’d messed with someone Vladimir was actually fond of. That was just asking for a little bit of torture before the main event; death via something creatively horrible.

She was still worth it.

Mack strode toward the pair ignoring the hostile glares from Vladimir’s crew. He took Lucy’s arm, firmly pried her away from the sinister mob boss and placed her back at his side. Vladimir watched with calm interest, his sharp eyes following each movement with calculation. The only thing that gave away any depth of annoyance on his part was the twitch of a long, jagged scar slashed across his face.

“Hudson,” Vladimir said coolly.

Mack nodded but didn’t return any kind of greeting. He spoke to Lucy without taking his eyes off the Boss. “Why don’t you go upstairs and pack some of your stuff, baby? Enough to last a few days. I’ll bring you into work on Wednesday.”

To her credit she didn’t so much as glance at her brother-in-law for permission. Obviously sensing the tension between them, she simply slid between the two men and scampered up the outside stairs to her apartment, digging in her purse for her keys. Mack waited until he heard her door close before he spoke again, his eyes taking on the icy edge of menace he usually reserved for people he hunted.

“She’s coming with me unless you want a war that will end in blood and death at the doorstep of your woman’s place of business,” Mack said conversationally, though there was no mistaking the steel lacing his voice.

Sitnikov raised a lazy brow and perused Mack from head to foot, giving him a look that suggested he found the other man clearly lacking. “If I wanted to take my sister with me, I would have put a bullet in your head the moment you stepped foot into my space and taken her.”

Mack could feel the spark of his too-quick temper ignite and had to remind himself that pulling a gun on her new brother was not the quickest way back into Lucy’s panties. He crossed his arms over his chest until they bulged and he glared at the other man. He refused to speak, refused to be drawn into a pissing match with the man that owned most of the underworld in their part of the country. No, he would find out what the man wanted through silence.

Sitnikov took a step closer to Mack, and though he was the shorter, somewhat slighter of the two, the vibes of brutality pouring from him gave him a feel of immensity. He didn’t bother to hide the deadly intensity in his eyes. “Unfortunately, my young sister has attached herself to you and for the time being I am loath to take her new toy away. Indulging the ones I love has always been a weakness of mine.”

Mack’s brain flashed to the underground cage fighter Sitnikov’s blood sister had shacked up with. So far as he knew Ash Bowles was still alive and screwing the psychotic blue-haired demon female version of Sitnikov. At least the other man had been alive as of the last bodyguard’s poker game they played together. Maybe Mack should check on his breathing status just in case Anastasia had gotten bored and moved on.

“What the fuck do you want?” Mack finally asked. “I’m done with this conversation. Unless you intend to get between me and my woman, we have nothing else to say to each other.”

The scar on Vladimir’s cheek twitched and visibly whitened against his skin. Mack knew he was overstepping with a man who had a reputation for getting his hands dirty despite an overabundance of thugs more than eager to do the job for him. Still, Mack couldn’t help but fuck with the city’s elite. It was what he did. He hunted, drank, fucked and fucked people up. He was a loner for a reason. He hated being near people. Unless the person was Lucy.

“I’ve never understood my wife’s attachment to you,” Sitnikov growled, his face flashing something close to genuine bafflement.

Mack couldn’t help himself. He actually shot the other man a grin and shook his head. Then he said the one thing that would probably get him closest to killed in this tense standoff. “That’s because you don’t understand your wife.”

Sitnikov stiffened, his entire body vibrating with tension. His gaze narrowed on Mack for a moment before he glanced to where his men stood several yards away. Then he said between gritted teeth, “Perhaps not, Hudson. But there isn’t a single man on this Earth that will understand a woman like that. At least I can call her mine.”

“By force,” Mack snorted.

Sitnikov shrugged, unconcerned. “However she arrives doesn’t matter, as long as she’s there in the end.”

They both looked up as the door to Lucy’s apartment banged shut and she came skipping down the stairs in a pair of tight blue leggings and a Flaming Lips band T-shirt with calf-length black boots. Her hair was wet and dripping into her shirt indicating she’d taken a quick shower while the men had been arguing on the street. She had a large tote bag swinging in one hand. She shoved a pair of over-sized sunglasses over her eyes while clinging to her headphones. She traversed the stairs at an alarming speed, her entire focus on not falling. She looked more breathtakingly stunning than Mack had ever seen her.

“Tell me you wouldn’t do whatever it took to possess this woman? Resort to extreme measures,” Sitnikov growled in a low voice, his eyes along with every other set of male eyes following Lucy’s lush curves as she moved. Only Mack knew Sitnikov wasn’t seeing Lucy, he was seeing the echo of her sister.

Mack grunted, unable to focus on more than the raging jealously streaking violently through him, demanding he throw her into his truck, reach for his gun and start taking out anyone having thoughts of messing with his woman. Damn it. She was covered from head to foot! She shouldn’t look so fucking sexy, yet something about her exuded raw uninhibited sexuality. Like every man there knew she was no longer a virgin and she was the best lay Mack had ever experienced in his life.

Mack took her bag and pulled her against his side. She gave him a startled look when he handled her a little rougher than he probably should have. He turned away from the Russians, pulling Lucy with him.

“You will attend dinner in my home Friday evening,” Sitnikov said to his back, loud enough that Mack knew he was issuing a command. He stopped in the middle of the street and turned back to glare at the other man and tell him where the fuck he could shove his meal invitation. Before he could speak, Sitnikov inclined his head and drawled, “Since your family had the pleasure of Lucy’s company, I thought mine could host the two of you in turn.”

Mack pulled his teeth back in a snarl, the look on his face morphing into something feral.

Lucy squeezed his hand and said brightly, “Thank you so much, Vlad. We’d love to attend! We’ll see you Friday!” She gave Mack a little push.

He hesitated for a few more seconds and then turned on his heel and stomped back to the truck, Lucy running with him to keep up. He opened the driver’s side door, shoved her and her tote bag through and pulled himself in after her. She had to climb over the console and yelped when he smacked her ass to hurry her up. He shoved her hands out of the way when she reached for her seatbelt and yanked it over her breasts. When she tried to protest, he lifted his head and gave her a look of concentrated anger. He was beyond pissed and about to lose his shit.

It wasn’t until they were several blocks away from her apartment that he relieved some of his tension with a fist in the dash and snarled, “Motherfucker!”

She jumped and stared at him. “What’s wrong, Mack? What did he say?”

“He was threatening my family,” Mack all but yelled. “No one fucking threatens my family and lives. Yet there’s not a goddam thing I can do to that man because he’s so fucking connected it would mean death to everyone I love.”

She sighed and reached out slowly so he could see what she was doing and ran her fingertips gently over his forearm. Caressing him until some of the tension left his body. When he finally looked as though he wasn’t about to tear the truck apart with his bare hands she leaned in closer and ran her hand up to his neck and massaged it.

“I know,” she sighed. “He’s the Boss, Mack. He threatens to get what he wants. I think it’s probably all he knows how to do. I’m sorry that spending time with me means becoming part of my family.”

Mack looked over at her, falling into her gorgeous face and eyes until the rest of his anger ebbed away. “Fuck,” he groaned and reached for her with his free arm. “You’re so damn worth it, baby.”